Stories From The Smartphone Graveyard

In today’s world, phone is man’s best friend. We take them everywhere, tell them everything and tend to their many needs. Sometimes, we must mourn their loss. While some pass away from natural causes, others go out with a bang. This curation of unique cellular deaths will pay homage to our defunct phones, and provide information that will keep beloved devices alive longer.

May they rest in peace

“I was playing soccer and left the phone on the grass near all the bags. But it was difficult to see, so one of the players accidentally just stepped on the phone with their cleats, and that was the end of that phone.” – Alex Genadinik

“My mom ran over it with her motorized wheelchair!” – Stephanie Young

“I was at the gym running on the treadmill. I had my cell phone sitting in the cup holder with my earbuds plugged in playing music off Spotify. The headphone cord got caught on my hand and knocked the phone out of the cup holder. It fell and hit the treadmill which throttled it head-on into the brick wall behind me. Needless to say it didn’t play music after that.”- Tim White

“My 15-month-old son dropped my 3-day-old iphone 4S into the toilet…which I didn’t discover for at least 10 minutes, as he also closed the lid afterwards! But what’s worse is that, after I’d toweled it off, it actually WORKED…until 2 hours later, when I was helping him get out of the wading pool at the park…and…it dropped out of its secure location (eg, my bra) and directly into the water.” – Carrie Bancroft

“I broke my phone when my family was on a commuter train from our home in Suburban Chicago to the city to attend a Cubs game. We were on the upper level and my 4 year old was playing with my phone. She dropped it to the lower level below us and the person it hit when it bounced off the floor was kind enough to hand it back, although it was shattered.” – Regan Sonnabend

“Cowboy’s phone: One 300 pound calf kicked mine out of my shirt pocket and across the field we were working in.” – Neven Gibbs

“My husband asked me to hand him something from inside the car. As I always do, I put the keys and Blackberry on the top of the PT Cruiser, so I would know just where they were and would never drive off without them. I leaned in, picked up the item, leaned out, and handed it to my husband. A few minutes down the road, I wanted to check something on my phone, and I couldn’t lay my hands on it. Then I realized I didn’t have my keys, either. What is the sound of a heart plummeting to the car floor? We drove back to where we had turned out of a commercial driveway, and there, strewn along 20 inches of Camelback Road (a major commercial roadway in Phoenix), were pieces of metal and rubber that formerly were my keys and phone. I now owned a phone pancake with a stretched-out rubber cover. It was phonecide by rush hour traffic.” – Kebba Buckley Button

“I spent an afternoon at the tow pound getting my motorcycle back, and as soon as I tore out of there, my coat caught the wind and turned the pocket upside down. It was day 3 of owning an iPhone 5. It cartwheeled down the street at about 40 miles per hour. It was beyond saving.” – Benjamin Feibleman

“In 2004, I was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. I had to go to the bathroom really bad, and finally found a port-a-potty. As I’m about to exit the port-a-potty, I heard a clunk. My cell phone fell out of my back pocket and into the waste pit. Needless to say, it was a goner.” – Ann Hand

“When my son was a baby he spit up on my phone. It was totally done.” – Rachel Teichman

“Well, I didn’t break my phone in a unique way, but I messed it up in a double-whammy comedy of errors. I was listening to the radio on my phone and dropped it in the sink. I immediately freaked, took it out of the skin, and put it in rice for a day. When I took it out of the rice 24 hours later, I dropped it on the tiles. Because I had taken it out of the skin to dry it, it shattered, front and back.” – Meieli Sawyer

“I broke my phone while I was running back home. I had it in my hand and just dropped it. Nothing unique so far, but bear with me. The thing is it didn’t only fall on the ground. The phone fell on my foot, exactly when my foot was getting up (in running move) so that I hit with a perfect strike with my foot, just like soccer’s players would hit a ball with a perfect shot. So instead of falling on the ground, my phone flew like crazy and was smashed several feet ahead. The funny thing is that the shot was really smooth and perfect. And the other funny thing is that I did this in a residential street: if anyone saw me, this must have been pretty unusual for him/her.” – Garry Techer

How to keep your device alive and well

Though these stories are grim, fret not, there is hope. With a protective case and screen protector, your phone’s life-span can be lengthened. A screen protector can give your screen the protection that you know it deserves. Pair it with a sturdy case, and you and your phone can put your worried minds at ease. Get protected lest you see your phone enter into an eternal sleep-mode.

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Hannah Woolleyis a tech blogger for ZAGG who currently lives in Salt Lake City Utah. When she’s not surfing the web for the latest and greatest tech news, she can be found singing way too loud, creating a masterpiece on Snapchat, or enjoying a nice cup of frozen yogurt.